1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and a recording medium, and more particularly, to an image forming apparatus capable of forming a photographic image and having a simple structure and a recording medium for use in the image forming apparatus.
2. Discussion of the Background
There have been various attempts to form a glossy photographic image using an image forming apparatus that employs an electrophotographic process.
One typical method is to use a transparent toner to produce a glossy image. A transparent toner is uniformly applied to and fixed on the entire surface of a sheet between image formation and fixing to obtain a photographic image. However, this method has drawbacks such that the transparent toner is continuously and uniformly supplied, and the fixing unit is subject to heavy load due to a difference in toner layer thickness between an image part and a non-image part.
Another typical method is to use a recording medium that has a thermoplastic resin layer. After fixing an image on a recording medium, additional pressure and heat are applied thereto to obtain a glossy image. However, this technology achieves a desired effect in combination with a particular fixing device, which causes problems on configuration, costs, power consumption, etc.
Still another typical method is to use two fixing devices to produce a glossy image. After the normal fixing of a toner image, another fixing device having a belt with high surface smoothness remelts the toner, and cools and peels the recording medium. In this method, a belt having a smooth surface is desired, which leads to restructuring, cost increase, etc. However, the configuration and cost for producing the belt with high surface smoothness need to be improved.
FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a structure of a typical photographic image. In the typical methods, the surface smoothness of a toner layer formed on a recording medium is improved to print a high quality photographic image, which is viewed from the side of the image.
When the toner layer surface, from which an image is viewed, is smooth, the toner image is recognized as a photographic image since light reflected therefrom is perceived as glossy. However, a fixing belt with a smooth surface to make the toner layer surface smooth is desired, which leads to increase in cost.